WHEN the going got tough in the Hoya Round the Island yacht race, the tough got going in recordbusting fashion.

The crews of around 1,735 craft faced choppy seas when they set off from Cowes early yesterday morning.

Some were dismasted and had to retire as the southwesterly winds built from around 15 knots in the more sheltered Solent to around 22 on the open sea south of the Isle of Wight, but the majority battled their way successfully through the testing conditions.

Fastest of the fleet in a new record time of three hours, eight minutes and 29 seconds was Frances Joyon"s huge trimaran Dexla Reure et Loir, from La Trinite in Brittany. She smashed the previous record, set by the yacht Paragon 15 years ago, by 45 minutes.

There was also a monohull record, with Mike Slade"s giant super sloop Skandia Leopard completing the circuit in four hours, five minutes and 40 seconds to chop more than an hour off the previous record of five hours, 12 minutes and three seconds.

There was also success for Russell Peters from Bursledon. His Ultra 30 Reloaded Red Square won its class in four hours, 26 minutes and 22 seconds and was the second monohull across the line.

Although some boats failed to complete the course, the day went though with no serious casualties on a highlysuccessful day when around 15,000 people went afloat for the biggest race of its kind in the world. A Solent Coastguard spokesman said: It has all been pretty routine with nothing really out of the ordinary for an event of this kind.